Sharing a common drinking vessel has long been recognized as an unsanitary practice. But sharing a common cup has long been a part of the Christian rite of communion in which bread and wine are shared among communicants.
Some Christian denominations have resolved this dilemma by providing a separate drinking vessel for each communicant. Of particular note in this regard are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,324,338 to Beall and 6,022,570 to Richmond. Both of those inventors teach the use of multi-compartmented sealed containers for holding a single serving of a liquid (i.e., wine or grape juice) and a single serving of bread.
Other Christian denominations, however, demand or prefer the use of common cup in the rite of communion. Apparatus for common cup communion has been taught by Sprinkle, in U.S. Pat. No. 908,706, who provided disposable lip guards combined with a chalice designed to dispense individual liquid portions and store unconsumed liquid in a sump.
In view of the foregoing, it should be clear that there has been a longstanding and unsatisfied need for a sanitary means of dispensing wine and bread in a common cup ritual.